Multimedia artist Sanford Biggers creates artworks that intentionally complicate our understandings of history, culture, and identity. His densely layered paintings on antique southern quilts combine imagery from such disparate sources as Buddhism, graffiti, and harmonics. Linked by themes of navigation, these motifs simultaneously recall stories of quilts being used as markers on the Underground Railroad and star charts employed byastronomers. At once visually beautiful and conceptually rich, they pose important questions about how history informs the present and how all humans—regardless of context—try to make their way in a complicated world.

Sanford Biggers holds a BA from Morehouse College in Atlanta and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He currently serves as Assistant Professor at Columbia University in New York and is a recipient of this year’s Rome Prize.

This exhibition is organized by Dr. Emily Stamey, Curator of Exhibitions and is presented in collaboration with the UNC Greensboro School of Art as part of the Falk Visiting Artist program along with support from the University Concert & Lecture Series.

The exhibition and related public programs are supported by the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.